Seduction of a Nation
by RoadKillX
Summary: The Earth Government is corrupt, full of greed, and all powerful. The Martian Government is being attacked by the Earth Government. To protect them they need a
1. Introduction

The Earth Government is corrupt, full of greed, and all powerful. The Martian Government is being attacked by the Earth Government. To protect them they need a "hired-hand", a mercenary. These mercenaries are known as Ravens. One raven must defend mars and fight against the Earth Government ... his name is Luke Fry. He is a fairly new, but very skilled raven. He is vilolent in his fighting style and shows little mercy. If a base is being attacked he will be there defending it, not attacking. He does not like the view of Raven being a person who will do anything for money and wishes to change that reputation by defending Mars and destroying Earth's corrupt government. He will do what ever he feels neccassarry to protect...  
  
Luke Fry is a tall 21 year-old Raven. He has black spiked hair, borwn eyes, and a dark black trench coat. He can deffinately hold his own as an AC pilot. He pilots the AC RoadKill. It uses the heaviest catterpillar legs, the heaviest IKS Over Boost core, the VEN radar head for its great radar performance, the RE/GG heavy "dome like arms", a right arm missle luanchers, the MIRROR shield, a wide spread slug gun on is left shoulder and the heavy grenade luancher on his right back. He also uses turn-booster extenstions and the longest effective range ECM pods. He prefers wide lock-ons and the heaviest generators and radiators. He is a great heavy weight pilot in general but loves tanks. That is why he chooses never to pilot another AC but RoadKill.  
  
As his mission begins, so does his journey as an AC pilot. He must face many hard-ships and ecounter many very dangerous foes along the way. Good luck Raven... 


	2. Chapter 1:Off to Mars

My bones shuddered as I took off in a drop-ship from the Global Cortex building. I was going to Mars for a mission. The mission was from the owner of a space-dome where arena battles took place. It was set up with the space-dome in the middle of five long hallways where ACs where maintained and stored before arena battles. When the security system system is activated each hallway has ten sets of dual-machine-gun gun emplacement and an energy shield. Each protecting the Raven and his AC, while at the same time preventing intruders from entering the base. The main entrance was to the north. This is where I was to be taking my post for any enemy MTs, or ACs that wanted to interrupt an on-coming AC battle. It paid 60,000 credits in advance and only 14,000 credits for completion. When coming from Earth to Mars you can usually earn a huge advance because you will need to stay on the planet for a while so you will need to find an apartment and garage to rent. I was planning on staying on Mars for a while, instead of leaving first transport I get.  
  
My huge tank would be more than enough to handle any intruders, but just in case the area was also being protected by two MTs and and another AC. The first MT was large with good armor, it was armed with a large bazooka and a large solid shield. The next MT was smaller and was armed with a weak sword, a very close-range shotgun, and a small rocket launcher. The AC was a new pilot in his standard AC who was going to be taking his test to become a Raven. His name was Shun. He looked like he could have a good future and would most likely pass the test and become a good Raven. I was put to the task of watching over him and it would be my decision to make him a Raven after the test. As long as he finishes the mission with his AC in tact he will become a Raven.  
  
And then I saw it. As we approached the surface of Mars the space-dome came into view. It was huge. The drop-ship then slowly made it's accent to the red Martian surface. I climbed into RoadKill and prepared to start my mission. "All systems go!". The huge AC came to life. "Are all systems functioning?" I asked my computer system. "Radar is down to 60% of it's regular function due to the atmosphere of Mars. All other systems functioning on normal parameters. Good luck Luke" I had chosen the computer voice. A soothing female voice. It was nice to be able to communicate with your AC, instead of just walking around with a huge weapon and killing stuff. Which was fun. One reason I became a Raven. For Adventure. "Thanks computer!"  
  
I was dropped off at the north entrance just like the mission detail said. "Alright Shun, there are MTs all over the place. We must destroy all opposing forces. Let's go!" "Yessir!" As soon as the battle started a group of MTs had flown in and had dual gatling gun arms. I swerved left and right to avoid fire, taking some hits I activated my shield and brought down my grenade launcher. I took a shot without lock-on, they must have some anti-FCS equipment. The shot hit one of the MTs in the waste as it charged towards me. The upper half of it's body exploded while the lower half was still running on fire until it fell over. The next MT wasn't moving much so I dropped an ECM pod and brought out my hand missile launcher. I got lock on both MTs. I fired the high-speed missiles but the MTs tried to swerve out of the way, crossing each other, but they were not fast enough for my missiles and were hit by the opposite pair of missiles that were meant for them. "Heh heh heh, 3 MTs down...Time to KILL!!!" When in battle I usually go into fits of uncontrolled rage, destroying anything that wishes to oppose me.  
  
"Incoming Message From Shun: Hey RoadKill I've been pinned down. My radar was destroyed and my left leg is damaged. I'm down to 4,763 AP. Please HELP!!!" "Will do."   
I hit my Over Boost and flew strait to Shun's location. There were a few construction MTs I couldn't see the problem. "AHH!" I was hit in the core by a grenade. It only hit to left side so I didn't take much damage due to the heavy armor on my core. "Bastard!" I saw them now, two ACs. One a tank with a right arm grenade launcher, two back grenade launchers, and a howitzer. It was a heavy frame but it was on some very light tank legs. It was apparent that it was over weight. The next AC was a light quad with dual chain-guns on his back, and dual machine gun arms.  
  
"Shun. Take out these MTs and I'll kill off that quad AC. Then we can kill the tank." Shun boosted to the MT and slashed off it's head with his laser blade. He than boosted behind the next MT and slashed it. It turned around and shot off a weak laser shot, but Shun dodged it and slashed the MT once more in making it fall to the ground. Then he made a quick stab to the generator shutting down the MT for good.  
  
I was stunned by some machine gun fire. It was the quad AC. I shot him and missed but the explosion took off one leg. He came closer and I brought out my slug gun. He came right up to me to fire another round of machine gun. I shot him with the slug gun, every shot connected. The AC was reduced to a pile of scrap and swiss cheese.  
  
"Shun! Are you Alive!?"..."Yeah, but barely" "We're gonna flank em'. I'll provide fire. Just boost behind and try to blade is generator." It was too late. Shun had been shot directly in the core. He was dead. There was soo much blood it looked as if the AC itself was bleeding. "Damn You! You killed him. He wasn't even a Raven yet. All MTs come here and help me kill this guy!" The MTs followed my order. One MT flew behind him hitting him with his shotgun and rockets. "You next to me. Lower your shield. I'm gonna drop an ECM pod and we're gonna try to kill this guy without anymore needless deaths."  
  
I dropped the ECM pod and again lowered my grenade launcher and shield. "Incoming Message From Darkside: Heh, I killed your little friend. Guess you gotta fight me." Darkside. We're did I hear that name before? Oh yeah. The arena battle that was going to take place before this fight. Dark-side vs. Irish Wizard. "Darkside! Why did you switch sides?" I was answered by a grenade coming straight at me. I blocked it with my shield taking a bit of damage. I fired a grenade back at him hitting him hard. The mix of shotgun, grenades, and bazooka shells were hitting him hard. One grenade cracked his core in many places. "Here's our chance. Stab him in the generator." The MT responded immediately and attempted to stab the generator, but hit the radiator. The enemy AC was now over heating and starting to burn. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! I'm on fire. You must die. I will kill you with my bare hands!!!" The large tank then jettisonned all of his weapons. That must be why he is on such light legs. He Over Boosted strait at me. He had no weapons. He was going to sacrifice himself and attack as a suicide bomb. "Your crazy!" With an AC that large he would kill all three of us. I had to think quickly. "Fight fire with fire." I grabbed the heavy solid shield from the MT next to me. I jettisonned my weapons except for my shield. My armor, energy shield, solid shield, and solid and energy screens would be enough to take him down and still keep my AC alive.  
  
I hit my Over Boost, heading straight for him. It was a game of chicken. "AHHHH!!!" Then we hit. My MIRROR shield was damaged and the MT's solid shield destroyed. The force of the impact was tremendous. A chunk of my core had broke of and hit me in the head. I could see the blood dripping down my face. I looked at my HUD. There was no site of Darkside. Just a huge crater, some chunks of metal, and blood.   
  
My computer had a message for me. I accepted it. It was from the owner of the space-dome. "Your mission is complete. We don't know what caused Darkside to attack. You were paid extra for both of the unexpected ACs. Oh yeah! We have a little problem. Without Dark-side there is no other AC pilot for the arena match. We paid allot of money to put that on the Earth television by satellite. We don't wanna waste it. What do ya say? How bout a little arena match. Free acomidations and garage use for as long as you stay on Mars and do missions for us. Too bad you can not join the actual arena ladder. But you can take and make challenges. Earn some quick cash!" "Sounds good to me. I'll bring in my AC. Please get a mechanic to fix it up. It's in pretty bad shape."  
  
I collected all of my weapons and went to the space-dome. I switched my system to normal mode. I was put in the west arena wing. With some of my bonus money I paid for the first flight possible to send the MT's home. Shun...poor guy. His AC was destroyed and him destroyed with it. It said I completed the mission, but to me I didn't. Shun was dead. "Shun. I want you to know you did great down there. And I hope your ok wherever you are now. Goodbye...Shun." But I couldn't change the past. I had to work on the future. My arena match was tomorrow morning. My AC was being prepared and re-painted. I guess it was time for me to get a good night's sleep. Good night RoadKill. Tomorrow we will face Irish Wizard in the arena. Before going to bed I accessed the terminal in my temporary arena apartment. I typed in "Info on AC:Irish Wizard". Irish Wizard was a new pilot. He had a missile-boat Reverse Joint leg type. Dual arm missiles, Anti-Missile extentions, ECM rockets, a multi-missile launcher, and a vertical missile launcher. It was on a light EO core, which had an energy machine gun. I shut down the terminal, climbed under my covers, and drifted off to sleep... 


	3. Chapter 2:RoadKill vs Irish Wizard

I awoke that morning with a terrible headache. Thats when I remembered. I had been hit in the head by a broken chunk of my core in that suicidal collision. I looked to my right but the terminal wasn't there. "What the heck!?" I said to myself. I took off my covers to see that I was in a hospital bed. I was in the Arena's Infirmary.  
  
"NURSE!!!" "What is it sir?" "Who brought me here" I was soo confused. "I did. When I heard you were hurt in the battle I came in and checked on you. Your head must really hurt." she sounded concerned. I reached up and felt my head. When I looked at my hand it was covered in blood. I looked into the mirror and I had a huge blood soaked bandage on my head. "Well can I leave? I got a fight to go to at 11:00. What time is it?" "It's 10:30." "Shit!" I got up and ran to my room, put on my trench coat and my blood red colored helmet. Most pilots where a jump suit, but I choose a black trench coat.  
  
I ran to the garage to see my AC. It was completely repaired. It even had a fresh coat of paint. I was amazed at how fast they finished it. They must of had at least five mechanics and they probably stayed up all night long to work on it. This arena fight must be very important to them. I climbed into my AC and walked through the large hallway to the space-dome arena. No one was there. Just the cameras and satalites that would send this battle to Earth live. It was only 10:57. I had three minutes until my opponent would come here. I thought I could beat this guy. He had a good record in the arena battle. He was ranked C-7. He had only lost one match from the start. It was against an AC very similar to his. The fight was supposed to be a very close one. Both ACs were even and they overheated. Irish Wizard had overheatin just 1.58 seconds before the other AC. Both ACs had fallen, but Irish Wizard had fallen first. "Well, I guess he's gonna get used to losing. Cause he's not beating me this fight!"  
  
The door on the other side of the arena had opened. The AC walked out. He really looked Irish. He had a green coat of paint, with white paint on his lower legs, and white arms. He also had a golden strip of paint on his waist. I liked my paint job better. First I painted my AC black. Then I made all of the general parts a little darker than blood red. So most of my AC was red. It was a site to behold. Just the look of it scared many Ravens. I had no emblem. I don't no why. Just never made one. Irish Wizards was a four leaf clover. Soon it would have one less leaf. He was going down.  
  
A message came from the loud-speakers: "Battle about to begin...both ACs present. The battle will start in 3...2...1...GO!!!" The battle started. I had fired three missiles at him. They were all shot down by his anti-missile extentions. He was a missile-boat so he was nothing without lock-ons. All he had to use without a lock-on was his ECM rockets. Thinking quickly a dropped an ECM pod. But his reflexes were great. To skilled for a human to pull off. Of course! He had the optional part that automaticly fires missiles on full lock-on. 12 missiles were heading strait for me. I dodged about 6, blocked 4, and was hit by two. The were small missiles and they didn't hurt my core too much. Only a loss of maybe 600 AP. I dropped another one so that he couldn't use his missiles. He was shooting rockets as fast as he could. They don't do hardly any damage. I brought down my grenade launcher and shot, just missing his head. It blew off one of his missile arms.   
  
"Ha! Like that?. Want some more!?" I shot him again. Doing great damage to the core. Just then my ECM pod exploded. I thought he would be switching to some missiles, but I was hit with a rocket. A tiny AP loss. No real damage. But I couldn't lock-on.   
  
Luckily I often practiced shooting without lock-on. When you are going to Mars you never no what kind of FCS or Radar damage will occur from the atmosphere. I took a pot-shot without my FCS. It missed. HE jumped up in the air straight, and then started to ascend downward. He was locking on to me. He fired off two vertical missiles. They went up into the air and where now heading straight for me. If I maneuvered I couldn't aim. I brought up my shield once more. The two missiles were heading straight for me! I had a perfect shot. I took it; it hit him in the other missile arm, blowing it off. He now had no arms. The impact of the missile hit my shield, pushing it to the left. The next missile hit me in the the arm, right above the shield taking off half of my arm. "Great. Just great. No shield. If he launched a few multi-missiles at me I couldn't defend myself."   
  
I looked down at my fallen arm. Then another ECM rocket hit me. Right in the head. My visual was totally deactivated. I was blind. No locks. No head. What can I do. I had only one chance. I jettisoned all weapons but my slug gun. It had a wide spread. I backed up into the closed door where I came from. I had to follow him by the sound of his boosters. Then I heard him coming closer. I guess when I hit him with my grenade I must of screwed up the range on his FCS. He was close to me. I could hear him. Closer...louder...closer...just a little more...NOW! I shot off my slug gun. I heard the shots connect. I waited for it to reload. Again. I was fired off my slug gun just as a bunch of missiles flew at me. I could feel them hitting my core. Some of the slugs must of destroyed some missiles because I could feel the force pushing me against the wall. I heard my lock-on. I had never shot that fast before. I could hear burning, and then a huge explosion!!!   
  
I heard the voice of my computer. "Win." That was all I needed to hear. I opened the cock-pit. I looked at my AC. Or what was left of him. A chunk off the head was gone. Half of the left arm. The right arm was no where to be seen. My core had many cracks and a huge chunk out of it. I heard parametics. "Oh great." I said in my head. "I just killed another raven." I felt dissy. I looked up at Irish Wizard. The AC was just a two legs, one broken at the knee joint, and a core with many holes. The pilot was standing right next to the AC. Then were was all the blood coming from. I looked around. He seemed fine. Then it became apparent to me. The blood was my own. The parametics were here for me.   
  
"Oh gr......uhhhh." I never finished my sentence. I had blacked out. At least I one the match. I awoke the next morning in the same infirmary bed... 


	4. Chapter 3:Blitzkrieg Battle

"Your making a real habit out of this." It was the nurse in a sarcastic tone. "Heh heh heh...oowwww. My heads killin me." "You left that match before I could tell you that you had a concussion. I don't know how you could even see the opponent." It doesn't matter my AC's head was damaged. All visuals were down. I couldn't see anything. Not even out of the core...hmm." "Your AC's head had nothing to do with it. You had a pretty bad concussion. You shouldn't pilot that AC for a while. Not that you could. It's pretty damn wrecked. Your lucky arena battles are free. Even your mission couldn't pay for the replacement arms, and all those repairs.   
  
"Hey lady!" "What?" "You're a mechanic aren't you. "No, not that at all. I'm a Raven. I'm an AC field medic. I know my AC because I gotta do some on field AC repairs. Well I think it's ok for you to go back to your room.  
  
"The nurse is a Raven. That's cool. All the hospital workers on Earth always yell at me. They ask me why I have to go and get hurt just for cash. Even I don't know why." I made it back to my room. I had been asleep for a day and a half. The repairs on my AC were almost done. Thats when I got a mail from the arena owner. I decided to read it. It said: "Hey good job in the arena. As soon as your repairs are done I got a mission for you. I used to be the CEO of a Martian parts company called Blitzkrieg. We are now reduced to nothing but a small base with one AC part prototype. Check your mission terminal for more info. I hope to see more of you soon."  
  
I walked over to my terminal and checked for missions. Just like that CEO said. A mission from Blitzkrieg. It paid 50,000 credits. And 10,000 in advance. I checked it out. The automated message began: "Blitzkrieg, a once very wealthy corporation, has been reduced to one AC prototype part. We would like you to protect it at all costs. The entrance is next to a mountain side and sealed with a rare and very powerful material. In front of it is a wall with 10 grenade gun emplacements. It is know that there will be an attack on this wall, so that a small group of scientists in mobile suits can direct a construction MT into the lab and steal the part. The only defense inside the lab are 6 scientists in mobile suits and 2 construction MTs. We would like you to defend against the oncoming attack. Good luck Raven."  
  
No more was needed to say. I hit accept. Then launch sortie. My AC's repairs should be complete by now. I went into the garage. My mission started at 3:00. It was 2:15 now. The repairs were finished as I thought. They just had to get the generator started. I sat there and looked at my machine as power was restored. It was amazing. A heavy tank with great defense and great offense. I was never into speed. I let my weapons do the talking. Power was restored. I again crawled into my AC. I started all systems. Then I hit Over Boost and traveled across the red Martian surface. My defense target was less than 100 miles away. I would be there in a few seconds.  
  
I looked at the defense target. Nothing but a wall. I was alone. Supported only by those 10 gun emplacements. Something came up on my radar. 4 stealth MTs were heading my way. I locked on with my missile launcher. "I got a missile for each on of you." I fired off the missiles, the first hit the MT in the leg, causing it to fall. As it fell another missile hit the cock-pit. The third and fourth missiles found there way to the core and the head of another MT, causing him to blow up, shrapnel flying everywhere. Some of it hit another MT in the leg. It was barely walking. I took the moment to bring down my grenade launcher and fire off a shot at the MT. It was hit directly, blowing the upper half up while the legs just stood there.  
  
I didn't see the last MT anywhere. It wasn't on my radar. It must have some FCS jamming equipment. I brought down my slug gun. I was shot from the side. I saw the MT. It was trying to shoot a hole in the wall protecting the underground base. It's weapons couldn't destroy that wall. Not even my weapons could destroy it. To save ammo I just walked over to the MT and crushed his head in my AC's heavy hands.  
  
A blip appeared on my radar. Then another. Then another. Soon my radar was fool of tiny blips. They were sending in a fleet of jets and heli-copters. I counted 3 jets and 9 heli-copters. "Fun." The jets were there to kill me, while the heli-copters used their machine guns and their rockets to destroy the wall. The jets flew by with their first wave of missiles. I shot down one jet with my slug gun. Two missiles came at me. I raised my shield and blocked one, and then dodged another.  
  
Then the heli-copters reached me. six attacked the wall, while the other three attacked me. The gun emplacements managed to destroy two heli-copters. I shot down another two that were closed to each other with one shot of my slug gun, thanks to it's wide spread. A gun emplacement was hit by a rocket that went right down it's barrel and blew it up from the inside out. The explosion blew up the heli-copter that shot it. The next heli-copter stopped to shoot me, I simply boosted up and punched it to the ground.  
  
This left three heli-copters attacking the wall. Another was shot by the gun emplacement, sending it spiraling to the ground in a ball of flames. The jets were flying by again. I used my grenade launcher to shoot one down. The jet flew by but I shot two missiles at it. It was doing good at avoiding them. Dodged both but flew right into the mountain side embedding itself into it. "All enemy resistance destroyed...Incoming Message From AC Heat Seeker: Nice job Raven, you destroyed some MTs. Wow. Now you'll have to go against me. I'm gonna make you wish that those MT had killed you." "Wow that guy is cocky." Then I saw him. He was a hover, he had HECTO rockets, a triple rocket launcher, a HG-80 high heat handgun, and a flamethrower. He could probably over heat me in a few seconds.  
  
He started by shooting his tri rockets at me which I dodged with ease. Since I lacked mobility he had gotten behind me and shot me with a HECTO large rocket. I backed off. I couldn't hit him with my grenade launcher. I switched to my missiles. He had an anti-missile lock-on Optional part, I only managed to hit him with one missile before I was forced to retreat again. Then I had an Idea. I fired my grenade launcher wildly, causing the area to fill up with smoke. I then boosted behind the gun emplacement that had been blown up. I put my grenade launcher in the same position as the gun was in. He couldn't tell the difference between me and the gun emplacements. He started to fire off his Hectos in every direction, destroying many gun emplacements. "Sorry buddy, missed one" "Wha!? AHHHHHHHH!!! I had shot him in the core. It was a light weight. Since it was damaged by the missiles slightly, and the gun emplacments, the grenade shell made it through the light-weight core. Blood was spread, staining the lush, jungle area which we were in.  
  
"Mission Complete...incoming message from Blitzkrieg. We need your help. A high-speed jet has escaped from our base. We would like you to destroy it. I saw it on my radar. It flew by me soo fast. I couldn't see it. I Over Boosted away from it. It was flowing me shooting of high-speed rifle rounds, each one hitting their target...me. I had no way to attack it. Then I knew what to do. It couldn't stop at that kind of speed. I dropped an ECM pod and the jet flew into it. I did it again. It was starting to spark. Then it got used to my attack. I had to hit it somehow. I was in the red on my energy bar, down to 8%. I jettisoned all of my weapons at once. It couldn't maneuver much at that speed and stay stable. It hit my grenade launcher and exploded. The other weapons falling on top of it.  
  
"Jet is destroyed...good job Raven." I took the time to once again collect and re-equip all of my weapons. My tread was ripped off and I was out of energy. I slowly dragged my AC along the Martain desert with my one tread. Just then I saw the space-dome. It was under attack... 


	5. Chapter 4:A Dead Bird Flys Again, Return...

"What am I suppose to do now. My AC has been reduced to a walking gun. And a slow one. I have to fight off these attackers. I have to survive!" I saw an AC. "Incoming Message From Irish Wizard: Hey, we're under attack! We need your help. It's a single AC. An unregistered pilot. His AC is using OP-I. He says he knows you. His name is Shun."  
  
"What!?" It felt like a bullet had pierced my heart. There's no way that it could be Shun. He was killed by Dark side. I saw it with my own eyes. "Shun! Is it really you?" "Heh heh heh." I know that voice...it's Shun." "You thought I was killed in the Martian desert. My body was destroyed but I'm still alive. Don't you know what I'm talking about. I had an operation. Human Plus. I am faster and stronger than you could ever be. This is for leaving me in the desert to die. I'm gonna return the favor. NOW DIE!!!"  
  
"Ugghhh. I was hit in the tread by Karasawa shot. I was now reduced to a mere gun emplacement. His AC then came into view. It was a middle weight humanoid with a Karasawa, MOONLIGHT blade, and a linear cannon. "What am I suppose to do. There's nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing but fight this battle to it's bitter end. That's what I'll do. I'll fight!"  
  
Irish Wizard was shooting barrage after barrage of missiles at Shun. Shun's AC had no problem dodging most of the missiles. The missiles that did hit had little effect on the heavy OP-I AC with it's plus pilot. Shun was having a problem hitting Irish Wizard. The Linear Cannon was too slow to hit him. Shun dropped it for speed. Then in the distance I saw an oncoming AC. It was white with a pink + emblem. It was armed with a HG-80 and the standard blade. Everything about the AC was standard but it looked like it had a better generator and boosters, thats about it.  
  
A woman's voice could be heard from my AC's speakers. "Hey Raven. Your AC is about as banged up as the pilot." It was clear to me. It was the nurse. But what was she doing. She didn't even have back weapons. Just a handgun and a blade. But then I saw it. Shun didn't notice her. She picked up the Linear Cannon, now severely over weight, boosted twords me. I knew what she wanted me to do. I dumped off my back weapons and equipped my new Linear Cannon. It had 1 shot left. I had to make it count. "Thanks uhh...nurse." "Just call me by my AC...Healing Wind."  
  
She then boosted up to Shun and started to shoot him with her handgun. It didn't really hurt his AC but it did stun him. Irish Wizard was shooting off multi-missiles into the side of Shun's AC. The AC shot Healing Wind with his handgun and slashed Irish Wizard with his MOONLIGHT.  
  
They had given me all the time I needed to get a perfect shot with the Linear Cannon. Shun turned around. His AC was staring back at me. It was like I good see into his eyes. But he was not the Shun who was with me on my first mission on Mars. He was now nothing but Human Plus, not a real person. Just part of the AC. It seemed as if it was all in slow motion. I saw the Linear Cannon charge up for it's shot. "Good bye Shun. And this time...for good." I fired the green bolt of energy. It hit Shun right in the core and went through, coming out of the other end of his AC. I could see the space-dome through the hole in his core.  
  
I slowly boosted my AC back to the base. I couldn't stop thinking about Shun. He must of been so angry. Taken from death just to get his vengeance on me. How could I of known.  
  
My AC was in the garage. I went to the Infirmary to talk to Healing Wind and Irish Wizard. Irish Wizard was there. He had a broken arm and a large blood-soaked bandage around his chest. Healing Wind had gotten away with just a minor cut on her forehead. "Is he gonna be ok?" I asked worried about is condition. "It doesn't look good but he should be fine. Go get some rest. There is a mechanic working on your AC. Don't expect to be on any sorites in at least two days."  
  
I headed to my small apartment. I couldn't pilot my AC until two days. I checked the terminal. The will be a small tourney, consisting of 8 ACs. I guess thats what I'll do on my day off tommorow. I needed to get to sleep. After a hot shower, I climbed under my covers and went to sleep, to the huge dream AC battles that are going on in my head... 


	6. Chapter 5:A Day at the Arena

I awoke that morning, exited for the day about to begin. Just then I heard a noise that scared me shit-less. A low pitch growl. I then realized it was my stomach. I had not eaten the whole time I was on Mars. I got on Mars and was doing a mission, then went straight to bed. After that I had woken up in the Infirmary and rushed to an arena battle, which resulted in again in me in the infirmary. The arena owner had an urgent mission so I accepted it. I was now soo hungry I could start to chew on my AC.  
  
I took one of the long hallways which led to the food court. There I saw a bunch of Ravens. It was clear that they were going to be fighting in the arena. 8 of them. I decided to grab some bacon and eggs, and then sat down with them.  
  
"So you guys are fighting in the arena today. That's gonna be cool." One of them answered me. "Yeah. Well we can't talk to you. I saw your match the other day, good job. Maybe someday you'll fight me. C'mon guys lets leave." "That guy seems good. The other guys follow him around like they are his cronies or something. I can't wait for these fights to begin." After Breakfast I decided to go and check out the Infirmary to see how Irish Wizard was doing.   
  
He was sitting in a chair beside his hospital bed. I decided to invite him to the arena. "Hey buddy. Thanks for the help back there. I was wondering if you wanted to go to the arena with me. Since you did help to save my life. I would of been destroyed by Shun back there. What do ya say? You coming or not?" He just looked up at me and then started to speak, "You would've saved me too. I'll go to the arena." Just then there was an announcement, the fight would be starting shortly. Since we were currently staying in the space-dome corridors, arena battles were a free privilege. We hurried to go get a good seat.  
  
The first fight was about to begin. It was an all-out bladder battle. The first AC was a quad, with a light core and dual MOONLIGHT blade arms. They were some of the coolest weapon arms I've ever seen. His name was Moonlight. Not very original, but it seemed to fit him. His opponent was named Mars. Again not very original, but it suited him. His AC was a middle weight humanoid. He had a MOONLIGHT blade in his left hand. And a MARS blade in his right. Unlike most bladders he choose back weapons. They were a rare double back weapon, 50% ammo increaser. It was probably put on for the lack of ammo that the MARS has. Then the match started.  
  
Both ACs started off by boosting at straight for each other. When Mars was halfway to his opponent he pulled back his Mars blade. I remembered that R-Arm blades of a lag and you must hold them back before they are released. Then they reached each other, Moonlight did a cross-slash and Mars used his moonlight to parry the slash and struck Moonlight in the core with the Mars. A huge crack formed on the core of Moonlight and he started to spark and over heat. He then went berserk, slashing with his dual MOONLIGHT arms everywhere. He first hit Mars in the Core, then he dodged a MOONLIGHT slash from Mars and sliced of his 50% ammo increaser. Mars was now low on ammo and he couldn't hit Moonlight with his MARS blade. Moonlight then used both arms and swiped to the right, cutting off Mars' legs at the knees. He pulled back his arms for a slash to the core, to kill the pilot, but then, out of nowhere the MARS blade was released into the Core of Moonlight. The AC shut down due to lack of AP and core damage. The fight was over, Mars was the winner.  
  
The next fight was a Sniper fight. Both light-weight designs. Sharp-Shooter, the only female Raven, had chosen the SRF-60, a SOL wave blade, a 20% ammo increaser, and a multi-missile launcher. She had CROW extentions. The next AC, Pot-Shot, had an old rare Sniper rifle, the NIGHT. He also had a CROW, but no back-weapons. I guess they both depended on their great accuracy for AC battles. The battle started off.   
  
Both ACs turned on their CROW extentions. Pot-Shot was taking shots, all of them just barely missing Sharp-Shooter. He kept shooting, connecting some shots. "Why wasn't Sharp-Shooter shooting." More shots were hitting Sharp-Shooter, she was over-heating. She couldn't survive much longer, Her AC was taking to much of a punishment. Just then a shot rang out, smoke coming out of the barrel of the SRF-60, Sharp-Shooters arm pointing straight forward. Both ACs Just stood there. And then the announcement:"Sharp-Shooter is the winner. It turns out that the one shot fired, was such a good shot that it went through the core, through the pilot of Pot-Shot's arm, and through the generator of the AC. It was the most amazing display of accuracy I have ever seen.   
  
The next match was an all out hover assault. The first AC, Speed Demon, had the PETAL legs, MG-1000, and HECTO rockets. All on an EO light-weight core. The next AC, Lazy-Boy, had new hover legs I have never seen before. The stats were better than the PETAL. But the Max weight was lower. All it had was dual missile arms, the lightest EO core, and dual orbit cannons on his back. They were off.  
  
Lazy-Boy dropped a pair of dual orbits and turned on his EO. His name fit, he didn't do anything buy himself, he just let his weapons fight for him while he got out of the way. Speed Demon was dodging EO machine gun shots, but was taking some damage from the orbits. He got a lock-on and started to spray his MG-1000 all over the place, some hitting, but most missing. He turned on his EO which was also a machine gun. By now there were about three pairs of orbits in the air and Lazy-Boy's EO was out of ammo, just then he fired two missiles at Speed Demon. Speed Demon could not dodge all of these shots. He was hit and stunned by missiles, and then demolished by EOs and orbits. The winner was Lazy-Boy.  
  
Irish Wizard had to leave. He was heading to his colony on Mars. I wished my new friend good luck. Maybe we could work together on a dual mission some day. Bye now I was eagerly awaiting the next battle. After that there would be two elimination matches between the four winners, and then the final fight. Since the whole tourney took place in one day, there were many mechanics. Every AC part had a mechanic for it. Repairs had to be done very quick and as effective as possible.  
  
The next fight was about to take place, one Raven was the guy I met earlier. His AC was called 8ball. I couldn't tell if he was making fun of 9ball, or he just thought he was ultimate. Whatever it was he looked nothing like 9ball. He had a large 30 shot bazooka, a MOONLIGHT blade, and dual back missiles. His opponent was HellFire. He was the brother of Heat Seeker, the AC I killed on that mission in the jungle. His AC was exactly like his brother's except he did not carry a handgun, he had R-arm rockets, and a lighter red paint job. I just hope he didn't see me in the crowd.  
  
The fight started out with the two ACs trading rocket and bazooka fire. 8ball was dodging every shot that came near him. HellFire had boosted close to 8ball and was using his flamethrower. 8ball backed off so that he didn't overheat, and again started to fire his bazooka, one round hitting Hell Fire in the legs. 8ball must of somehow disabled HellFire's floating mechanism in his legs. HellFire boosted back against the dome and tried to get a shot with his HECTOs. 8ball Over Boosted in and stabbed HellFire in his waist, pinning him against an arena door. "Why aren't they calling the fight; is HellFire still alive." A large rocket shot forward taking off the head of 8ball, leaving him blind. 8ball just stood there. He could be finished. But then 8ball boosted backwards and let off a shot of his dual back missiles, he was locking on the whole time. The swarm of missiles hit there target with ease, making 8ball, the winner.  
  
This left four ACs in the tourney. Mars, Sharp-Shooter, Lazy-Boy, and 8ball. The matches would be as follows: Sharp-Shooter vs. Lazy-Boy, and Mars vs. 8ball. Then those two winners would progress and fight. The first match was Sharp-Shooter vs. Lazy-Boy. The crowd seemed to have mixed feeling, cheering for both ACs equally. I didn't think Lazy-Boy had enough skill, he relied only on his weapons for winning the fight. My money was on Sharp-Shooter.  
  
The fight began. Sharp-Shooter aiming for the vital parts of Lazy-Boy. The first shot hit Lazy-Boy in the arm, disabling it and also causing the other arm to malfunction. Lazy-Boy activated his EO . Sharp-Shooter dodged some of the quick fire, but shot the EO dead on. It stopped shooting. Lazy-Boy tried to bring it back, but it wouldn't return. Sharp-Shooter took another shot and destroyed the EO. Lazy-Boy had to resort to using only orbits. Sharp-Shooter turned on her CROW and the orbits could not hit her. She started throwing wave blades in every direction. Lazy-Boy could not escape his fate, he would lose the fight and that was that. Lazy-Boy was sliced clear in half by a group of three wave blades coming straight for him. His legs blew up and he was on fire. A group of arena workers had to run in and hose him down.  
  
The next fight would be between Mars and 8ball. They had both demonstrated allot of skill. This would be a great fight. Of course with only close-range weapons, Mars may have a problem getting a shot in. The winner of this fight would go on to face Sharp-Shooter in the championship match. If Mars wins this match, he probably couldn't stand a chance against a sniper AC. The tension was rising, who would go the the final match?  
  
8ball and Mars did something that the crowd would of never imagined. They jetisoned all of there weapons but the MOONLIGHT. There ACs where very similar, but 8ball was bigger. That meant a slower swing for more power. They Over Boosted at each other. There blades connected. The boosted back a bit, and swung again, each AC hitting the other's blade. This went on for at least a minute. 8ball Over Boosted from close range, he was stabbed in the arm by Mars' blade. 8ball followed up with a slash, cutting off the blade arm of Mars. Mars Over Boosted away from 8ball and picked up his MARS Blade once again. Mars pulled back his blade, waiting for the piston to go off. 8ball was hit in the arm by the MARS blade. It was stuck. "Let me help you with that." said 8ball in a menacing tone. He sliced off Mars' Right arm. Mars was now left with no arms or weapons. Since he could not drop his 50% ammo increaser, he had no choice but to quit. He didn't want to end the match like that, instead he knelt down and waited to be finished. 8ball made a stab to Mars' generator, and twisted it, shutting the AC down. 8ball had won the fight. He would go on to fight in the Finals.  
  
"Everybody it's the moment you've been waiting for! The final match. The great 8ball." The crowd let out a cheer. "Or...the deadly sniper AC, Sharp-Shooter!" The crowd let out another cheer of excitement. Then the countdown for the final match had begun...5...4...3...2...1...Go! No sooner had the fight started then it was over. Sharp-Shooter was on the ground, sparking. What could have happened. The pilot stepped out of the AC, she was hurt, bleeding perfusively. She had no idea how he had been defeated. The AC had no malfunctions. It had suffered no external or internal damage. The crowd was fixed with awe at the site. 8ball was no where to be seen. What could've happened.  
  
That night I looked over the tapes of the arena matches. I couldn't figure it out. I watched it in every camera view. I still couldn't figure it out. "What the hell is going on here!?"... 


	7. Chapter 6:A New Breed

The grenade flew into the chest of the heavy MT with a bazooka and blew a crater in it's stomach, causing it to fall to the ground. I was on a mission with two other Ravens. It was to investigate what happened in the arena. Apparently a hidden base had a terminal with information regarding the mysterious death of a Raven, Sharp-Shooter.  
  
The Ravens were Pot Shot, from the arena match the other day, and Falling Storm. Falling Storm was a Reverse Joint pilot, with a OB core, a 20% ammo magazine, spread howitzer, MG-500, and orbit cannons. She preferred aerial combat. The base came into view. A metal square inside of a crater was the entrance. I shot down with my slug gun, destroying the metal square. I entered the hole, then Pot Shot, and finally Falling Storm.   
  
I slowly slid on my treads across the long hallway. Nothing was on my radar. I had an FCS error. "Who else has an FCS error?" Both Pot Shot and Falling Storm answered at the same time. "Same here." Something wasn't right here. Are opponent didn't want us to find them. My map was down too. Most functions were not working. "The next room is full of pulse radiation." It was Falling Storm. "Your gonna have to go in and disable the pulse generator." "Why me?" "You have the most AP." I headed into the room.  
  
My AP was being lowered at a slow rate. There was nothing in the room. I looked up to see a giant vent in the ceiling. I couldn't boost high enough. Falling Storm had the best boosters so she tried next. She couldn't make it more than half way up. She was losing AP much faster than me. I had a plan. She stood on top of me and I held her leg. Pot Shot was going to boost under and push me up. Falling storm boosted up high, Pot Shot pushing me, as she pulled. "Now RoadKill!" Falling storm moved out of the way and Pot Shot did the same. My boosters drained fast and I didn't go very high, then I started moving up. I was almost to the vent. I didn't know if I could make it. At this height, even though I'm in an AC, my AC would be crushed. I had no choice. I kept boosting and made it in the vent, but I ran out of energy. My AC grabbed on with one hand. I used all of my strength to pull the heavy AC up into the vent. I saw the pulse generator. I disarmed it. It would of been easier if Pot Shot and Falling Storm just stood on top of me, but their AP wouldn't hold up. Each of them were down to about 3,000 AP. I still had about 6,500 AP.   
  
I hit a switch, "Gate lock on section B23, unlocked." Pot Shot and Falling Storm walked through the door and used an elevator to get up to the floor I was on. I blew up the grate of the vent with my slug gun, and exited. We were again together and were going to make up a plan. "Good work RoadKill!" "Thanks Pot Shot." "Even I wouldn't want to fall from that kinda distance." said Falling Storm in a worried tone. "It was weird hearing an aerial pilot admit to being afraid of a fall. Heck it was weird hearing a Raven even admit to being scared. I guess female Ravens are different then us male Ravens." The target was in view.  
  
Pot Shot started to download the program. "Hey guys...it's gonna take two minutes to download this program." Falling Storm and I turned around to protect Pot Shot. Just then an alarm rang out. "Intruder alert. AC and all MTs head to the main computer terminal immediately! Don't let them get that program. If all else fails destroy the program so it does not fall into enemy hands. We can't let them get any info on that new Optional part.  
  
Well now we know it was an Op. part that had killed Sharp-Shooter. There was still one and a half minutes until the download would be completed. They were sending in an AC. I did an enemy unit count. We were up against 5 heavy MTs with bazookas and shields,10 construction MTs, 6 MTs with a close-range shotgun, a weak blade, and small rockets, 7 small floating MTs with an energy beam weapon, and 30 mass produced, chicken-like MTs. We didn't stand a chance against those kind of numbers. I got info on the AC. It is a tank. It has a Linear Cannon, a howitzer, and a smaller parry blade with 30 ammo. We were in trouble.  
  
The first wave of MTs stormed in. They placed their shields in front of them and next to each other, making a wall. Falling Angel launched an orbit cannon and started to spray each MT with machine gun fire. I switched to my grenade launcher. Those shields couldn't handle my grenades. I shot a grenade, breaking a shield and hurting the MT inside. "Hey RoadKill, this isn't looking good, the next wave of MTs are on their way. Pot Shot still has one minute until the download is completed. Switch to a spread weapon. We have to work quick!" I brought out my slug gun. One shot damaged three shields. Falling Storm was spraying spread howitzer and machine gun in every direction. All shield were broken. It only took one shot of slug gun, and one of Falling Storm's spread howitzer, to take out the MTs.  
  
The next wave arrived. 10 construction MTs. One shot of slug gun took care of one MT. They did relatively no damage, but falling angel was low on AP. I traded shots of slug gun for their weak lasers. They were destroyed quickly. "Thirty seconds until download is complete, third and fourth wave will be arriving shortly. AC on his way here. Those 30 chicken-like MTs have stationed themselves around the elevator, in case we destroy the next few waves."  
  
Falling Storm was out off ammo with her machine gun and spread howitzer. I handed over my R-arm missile launcher for her to use. I could see the MTs at the end of the hallway. Falling Storm had launched a volley of missiles and destroyed a hover MT, and a close-range MT. "Download Complete guys, there's a transport waiting outside." We couldn't escape, we were pinned in this room. I again brought down my grenade launcher. Pot Shot was using his NIGHT. We were destroying the MTs before they could get in the room. Pot Shot had shot a MT in the leg, bringing it down and causing a sort of domino effect on the other close-range MTs. I used my grenade launcher to finish the fallen MTs. All that left were two hover MTs when we received a message. "Incoming Message from unidentified AC: Ravens. You will not escape with that information."   
  
He flew into the room. He was not a Raven, just some illegal AC pilot. I guess this base didn't care who they hired. He Over Boosted into the room. Falling Storm was out of my missile launcher and gave it back. She had no way to fight. The AC had used his parry blade and stabbed her in the leg. Her AC fell. It was sparking and in a critical condition. I stepped in front of her and turned on my shield, my AC blocking hers. "I want every AC alive. Except for this guy." I said with rage in my deep voice. He brought down his Linear Cannon. I was hitting him hard with my grenade launcher. Pot Shot was low on ammo. He was trying to line up a shot to kill the AC pilot. The green bolt of the Linear Cannon charged and was fired. There was no possible way that Pot Shot could survive the blast. I Over Boosted in front of him. The blast destroyed my shield generator and ripped of my treads. "Now Pot Shot!" Pot Shot recovered from his near death experience, and took the shot. It went through the tanks thick armor and successfully killed the pilot inside.   
  
We were low on ammo. All I had was 10 slug gun ammo, and 2 grenades. Pot Shot had put on a SOL wave blade after the arena battle, just barely making weight. He handed this to Falling Storm. Falling Storm was going to walk behind me using me for a shield, since I still had 3,763 AP left. She would use the blade when she had a chance. Pot Shot went ahead. He used is last 4 shots and killed 3 out of 30 MTs. They now knew we were here. I jettisoned my grenade launcher. "Here buddy, use this. You might go overweight, but we can kill these guys faster." Pot Shot picked up and started to use the grenade launcher. 1 shot killed two MTs. He was going to wait for me to lure more MTs towards him to save ammo. I boosted into the room, since I could no longer walk with ripped treads, I used my slug gun to kill two MTs standing next to each other, each one was full of holes. I used my slug gun as Falling Storm used her blade wave. I was out of ammo, but the MTs didn't know that. I Over Boosted, dragging my treads as I went, and lured the last four MTs into the room. Pot Shot launched the last grenade at the MTs, killing three. I chose to destroy the last one by crushing it's head in my AC's hands.  
  
"Mission Complete, return to transport. We were all low on AP. I had 503 AP left, Pot shot had 217 AP left, and Falling Storm was left with 18 AP. Luckily this mission had paid 10,000 credits in advance, and 75,000 on completion of the mission. We slowly made are way out of the vent, then down the elevator, and out of the front door. We gave each other the weapons that we started the mission with. Then we boosted up and attached ourselves to the transport.   
  
It was late when I got back to my apartment. Almost 11:00p.m. The information that we found was to be kept secret between Pot Shot, Falling Angel, and me. The information was the plans for an Optional part. This must of been equipped to 8ball. It made an ultrasonic blade wave that didn't affect the AC, but would slice up the pilot in it. This is how Sharp-Shooter had been killed. I watched the video of the arena one last time. It was clear to me now. When 8ball just vanished, he really just vanished. Someone had made given him stealth that he could turn on the moment that Sharp-Shooter was defeated. He must of just flew out of the dome when it opened for the transport to escort the fallen AC. We had to find 8ball. We had to defeat him... 


	8. Chapter 7:Urban Assualt

A price had been set for the death or 8ball. It was a bounty made from Blitzkrieg. Apparently when Sharp-Shooter was killed, arena spectators no longer felt safe in the stands. If 8ball was killed, then the arena would be back to normal business. This was not going to be an easy assignment. "How can we find just one Raven? He's to smart for a set-up mission. He could be on Mars, Earth, or even a space colony. There was no way to find him. But with a price on his head of 20,000,000,000 credits...I think I could go out of my way. Lots of money is earned by selling tickets and broadcasting pay per view so the 20,000,000,000 would be earned back pretty quick."  
  
I started thinking of ways to find him. "Fake mission...no. Hire him as a consort...no way. After that attack on his base I'm sure he knows my name. He could just look up my info. How the hell was I gonna find this guy. I needed some information." I looked up his name on the Raven data-base. His info would not show up, it said that 8ball had made a temporary retire. He was in hiding. I had to do something to get my mind off 8ball. A mission would be the perfect thing, maybe I could even get some info on 8ball.  
  
I saw a good mission. An AC was already heading to the missions starting point. I would have to accompany him immediately. It paid only 11,000, but repairs and ammo we be taken care of for free. "Sweet! This mission would be no more than for fun. All we had to do was help an AC. He was pinned down. We would destroy any MTs that were around him and help him get back to his City. The mission was requested by him, that is how we got free repairs and ammo. A little money and repairs. Pretty good for saving his life." I walked to the hanger in the Garage.   
  
I heard someone yell at me. "Hey Kamui!" No one had called me Kamui since I was an MT pilot...then I knew who it was. "Krusty!?" Then I figured out who it was. An old friend named Herschel. I started climbing up the ladder to AC Pot Shot. "No way! Could he be Pot Shot?" I started to climb the ladder up to RoadKill. He looked as puzzled as me. "I couldn't believe it. He was a friend of mine in the MT academy. He referred to me as Kamui, meaning power of god, in battle we simply referred to each other as bro. I thought he was killed in our training mission to become a Raven. The mission area was attacked by a well equipped AC. Together we had defeated him and I had completed the mission, but Herschel's AC was destroyed, blown to pieces. Could it be? Was it possible that he could have survived an AC explosion. I wasn't sure but I decided it start the mission."  
  
We made our way out of the space-dome and into the desert. The line came up on my HUD. It stated defense target. "Incoming Message From Pot Shot: Hey bro, thats the AC. Lets destroy any MTs in the area." I boosted off. The only MTs were those mass-produced chicken like MTs. They had basically no armor and there rifle did little damage. Pot shot Flew up onto a building and knelt down in an effective sniper position. They were weak little MTs. I didn't want to make this guy broke so I used a cheap weapon, my slug gun. I brought it down and fired it into a nearby MT. It exploded and fell to the ground instantly. I hit my turn boosters and fired another round of slugs at the MT to my right. The AC couldn't be having such problems with these weak MTs. There had to be something bigger. "I'm gonna go find out whats given this guy such trouble. You keep on on picking em' off from that building." "OK RoadKill, hurry up!"   
  
I followed the defense target line. "Were was that AC?" I was hit in the back by a bazooka shell. It was 8ball. We had been set-up. "Hey Pot Shot. It's 8ball. There's 20,000,000,000 credits on this thing." "I'll be right there!" I opened up a com. link to any AC or MT in city area. "Hey, all of you MTs. You know your gonna be killed by us, but we have a proposition for you. You could die by my hands, or you could fight an AC called 8ball with us. I will give anyone who survives 20,000 credits. C'mon, what do ya say?" A total of 55 MTs had came to my aid. It turns out that only 5 were humans. Each human had ten auto-piloted MTs under their command. "Luke I always said, people would do anything for the right amount of cash. Even switch to the side of the higher paying Raven."   
  
55 small rifles were being fired at 8ball. They didn't seem to do much damage. I unleashed grenade after grenade onto 8ball. He Over Boosted in a quick circle. When He stopped at least 30 MTs were destroyed. 2 or them had human pilots. "Well, look at the good side. I'm saving 40,000 credits." The leftover 3 MT pilots had ran out of there as fast as they could, leaving 17 MTs to our aid. And for free. Pot Shot had taken a shot, breaking 8ball's Over Boost function. 8ball had just hit his Over Boost though. They exploded and 8ball went up in flames. The continues fire of the MTs had worn 8ball down. I Over Boosted and stuck my hand out in front of me. I grasped 8ball's head in my AC's hands and continued to Over Boost. The head was torn off of the AC. Hit fell to the grounded and exploded. I was flung, head first, into the building that Pot Shot was standing on. The building crashed down to the ground, crushing all of the MTs and leaving me buried in the rubble.  
  
"Hey bro! You ok? Stop playing in the street! 8ball got away!" The mission was over. "Mission Complete", came up on my HUD. "This mission was complete? What had been accomplished. 8ball had escaped, and I know had to pay for allot of repairs. I sent a video upload it Blitzkrieg from my HUD view, showing him our encounter with 8ball. In the mean-time I had to dig myself out."   
  
I pushed through the rock. Pot Shot was digging from up top. This was going no where fast. Blitzkrieg had seen our battle, they took our fight data and said that it was valuable information. Our ACs would be maintained for free. A transport with a few construction MTs, equipped with digging tools, would arrive to dig me out and take us back to the space-dome. The transport arrived. I could hear the MTs picks hitting the de-bree I was under. After several hours of this, I was out of the whole. I had been thrown down 20 stories into the ground, with 80 stories of building on top of me. I boosted my AC up into the transport ship.  
  
"ACs, I hope your ACs aren't in too bad of a condition." It was the CEO of blitzkrieg. And our ACs had only suffered minor damage. The building had messed up my paint pretty bad and put some nice dents into my armor, but for the most part I was ok. "8ball has been spotted in a small manufacturing base somewhere in the Martian desert. They mass-produce those small MTs that you encountered. If you accept this mission you will be paid well. Your mission is worth 250,000 credits for each of you if all MTs are destroyed. Also note that you will also be paid if you destroy 8ball. You can split the bounty 50-50." I looked at Pot Shot. His AC's head nodded. "Yes, we will accept the mission." "Thank you Raven. The construction MTs with you will refill your ammo and make some quick repairs. They will be dropping you off at your mission coordinates shortly. A truck with extra ammunition supplies will be waiting for you at the base. You can also hire some consorts to help you on the mission."   
  
"I know the perfect consorts for the mission. Irish Wizard...hey...wanna join us on a mission...me and Pot Shot...yeah...20,000 credits...deal. Yeah...Falling Storm...you got the message...alright...yeah...get going. I've hired two ACs to join us. I belive you know Falling Storm." "Yeah bro. And Irish Wizard was that AC you beat in the arena. I watched that from my apartment." We were off to get vengeance on 8ball; and earn a hefty sum of money... 


	9. Chapter 8:Penguins in the desert

"Mission coordinates located. Dropping off ACs." I was free-falling next to Pot Shot. I could see my team on the ground below. Irish Wizard and Falling Storm came into view. The truck was pretty close to the mission boundaries, I guess it was so the enemies did not destroy our ammo. It was a simple objective, destroy everything and get out. I turned my AC.  
  
Before we went into the battle grounds, me and Irish Wizard made sure to get missile locks. If we could keep this fight at a range, there would be less damage to the ACs. Ammo was no problem, we just needed to keep our AP high. We boosted up and launched our volleys of missiles. 4 MTs down. These guys had no armor. I hid behind a canyon, getting locks. When I had four locks I would strafe out and shoot. Pot shot was staying out of range, firing off his NIGHT. Irish Wizard was popping up from behind the canyon, dodging anything shot at him, and then shooting off missiles. Falling Storm was flying up high, raining machine gun and spread howitzer death to the MTs below.   
  
Only 50 MTs were still alive. I was out of missiles. I dropped an ECM pod. I was to far away to lock on with my grenade launcher, I just used my manual sites. I shot a grenade, hitting the target and blowing it up instantly. Falling Storm and Irish Wizard flew to the ammo truck. Pot Shot would provide cover fire, and was going to boost into the base and destroy it from the inside. That way I could kill MTs in the base. Around 40 MTs were remaining. Pot Shot was out of ammo. He flew to the ammo truck. I made it to the door of the base. It didn't open. It wasn't too strong so I shot it down with my grenade launcher. "Holy shit!" I made it into the base. There were over 300 MTs in there. And most were online. I couldn't do anything. I spotted the main generator that was supplying power to make these MTs. I grenade shot took it down. It exploded violently. Many MTs were destroyed in the explosion. The building started to crumble. I Over Boosted towards the opposite end of the door. The area behind me was starting to fall. I raised my shield at the last second, and crashed through the wall.  
  
"Are you alright RoadKill?" Falling Storm was outside of the building. "We took care of all the MTs out here. Good job killing all of those MTs in there!" All MTs were crushed in the building. I was low on everything but slug gun, which I was full on. With three grenades left I wouldn't last long. A heli-copter squad was coming in. I switched to my slug gun, as did falling storm. We shot in harmony. The two wide-spread slug guns together had taken out 5 heli-copters. Only 12 more. A volley of missiles launched from Irish Storm. "3 more heli-copters down." After about two minutes of continuous fire all heli-copters were down.   
  
"Are we done guys?" was asked by Pot Shot. Then many blips appeared on radar, stealth MTs. They were there waiting the whole time. 8ball flew out with them. "This guy is mine!" "Leave the AC to me guys. Kill the MTs and then come, I may need help. Something was different about 8ball. He was pulling of many intense maneuvers. "I've seen this before. It was Shun. This guy must be Human Plus also. This can't be good." I didn't stand a chance against a human plus with his kind of AC upgrades. I had to play defense. First I Over Boosted to the ammo truck and filled up, while Pot Shot held off 8 ball. I was refilled. When I came back Pot Shot was in bad condition. I dropped my ECM pods. "Pot Shot, take these and hide. You give me some cover fire from far away." He picked them up and flew off.  
  
"Round two begins." I was shooting grenade after grenade. He dodged most of them. One hit him in the core hard. With his speed I couldn't destroy his head. The cover fire from Pot Shot was starting to cause some minor damage. I hated to do this. But killing the pilot would be my only option. I don't like killing pilots, but for 20,000,000,000 credits, and a mission riding on it, I would do whatever it takes. "Everyone. This is RoadKill. Pot Shot will snipe any remaining MTs. How many are left." "Six." "Pot Shot, stay at a distance and kill them. Irish Wizard and Falling Storm, help me here with 8ball."  
  
After some short time, all MTs were down. We all had gathered around 8ball, ready to fight. Irish Wizard and Pot Shot were heavily damaged. Falling Storm was in decent shape. My AC had very little damage, but it was low on ammo. No chance to reload. I had to make every shot count. Irish Wizard hid behind building wreckage, only coming out to shoot of his payload of missiles. Falling Storm took her routine of flying up high and raining down machine gun and spread howitzer. He was taking considerable damage.  
  
Then is blade started to glow brightly. A swing came and I felt a pain in my arm. I large slash was in my arm, blood flowing all over the cockpit. It was his Optional part. The sword faded back to it's normal color. "Guys watch out. When that blade glows get ready to move." I kept driving froward. I was taking heavy damage from his bazooka. I still kept moving forward. He was concentrating on me and getting hit by my teammates. I grabbed his blade in my right hand and tore it from his arm, crushing it under my treads. I then Over Boosted and grabbed his head, crushing it into the ground were I stopped. "Hey RoadKill, the ammo truck was destroyed by a very large carrier ship. It has powerful turrets. Our mission is done here. I think we should get out." It was Pot Shot. We were stunned by a bright light. Before we could do anything 8ball had flew up onto the cargo ship.   
  
I boosted up and landed on the ship's landing dock. 8ball was opening a door. I shot him in the back of the core with a grenade. He just kept moving. His AC was down to 0000 AP. "How could it still be moving?" I asked myself. "Well you won't be moving much longer!" I could hardly move forward. We were going at 900 k/ph. The force ripped off a tread. Then the other one. I got ready for a shot. The grenade launched forward and hit him in the leg, blowing it off. The force of the shot had blown me off of the ship, but 8ball was coming too. We were high up, but I could make the fall with the wind pushing up on my AC, slowing it down. 8ball's AC was not so aerodynamic. It plunged strait forward. I landed hard and took some serious damage to my legs. My booster were torn off. I had no way to move. 8ball's legs had been pushed up into the core. It wouldn't move anymore. "Come in drop ship. Mission is complete. The death of 8ball is confirmed." "Good job Raven." came over the speakers. "We will have a transport fly in to pick you up. Just last until we arrive."  
  
The hatch of 8ball's AC opened. I small mobile suit flew out. The pilot of 8ball must be in that. My weapons had no way to hit him when he moved at some speed. Irish Wizard was out of ammo, as was Falling Storm. I could hardly see 8ball. His mobile suit had turned to flames. "With all that money riding on that shot, I had to hit my mark." "Good job Pot Shot."  
  
The ship came and I was helped onto it. All credits were transferred to our accounts. The four of us had made some good money, since I decided to pay my consorts 100,000 credits instead of 20,000. We made it back to the space-dome. My AC was given a mechanic to work on it. After some dinner I decided to go to bed. I needed rest. My AC was in the worst shape ever. I needed totally new legs, and then ammo had to pay for repair costs. I payed for repairs, ammo, and some of my legs. I was payed 5,000,000 credits for finding the Optional part. And then my 10,000,000,000. I was certainly liking working here on Mars. I decided to buy a real apartment in the underground section of the space-dome. Until now I didn't even know that there was an underground section of the space-dome. The manager said that only very skilled pilots live there. I even have my own garage. I decided that I would meet the other AC pilots who lived here tomorrow. For now, it was time to sleep... 


	10. Chapter 9:Third Strike Team

War...The message came today. The Earth and Mars government will be at war. The war will be on the surface of Mars. Both sides paying large amounts of credits to any Raven who would join to help their cause. To complete the mission you must battle for a shift and live. Each shift is about an hour long. Earth is paying 100,000 credits per shift. Mars is paying 20,000 in advance, and 70,000 after a shift is complete. Every AC is able to have their ammo replenished once per shift so it is necessary to be careful with your shots. It is a tough way, but an easy way to earn money. A Raven has no limit to how many shifts he will sign up for per day; nor is he obligated to serve more than one shift. However it is not smart to fight on both sides due to small forces of each government who are hired to "Bounty Hunt" or find and destroy any ACs who have switched sides. Only one question remains..."Which side will I join?"  
  
3 years have passed since my first mission on Mars. Arena battles have stopped here. The war isn't letting many Ravens up here unless they will be fighting. I have been paying rent ever since the arena battles stopped 2 years ago. Missions are slow. Money is hard to come by. My large reward has lowered quite significantly lately. Being a Raven on Mars is very costly. I had no choice but to fight. And to fight for Mars. I had been born and raised on Earth and love it very much. That is why I must go against the corrupt Earth government and help Mars...to make Earth a better place.   
  
I signed up for a shift this afternoon. I would leave at around 2 and start shift at 3. My tank should be able to withstand damage for that long if I'm careful. I then left my apartment and headed up to the docking bay. I haven't been on a mission in 3 weeks. I strapped myself in and started to boost out of the garage hanger slowly. Once I had became comfortable with my skills again I started to head towards the front lines were I would be fighting.  
  
I arrived with 5 minutes before my shift. I prepared for the battle making sure my AC was in top condition. I had been loaded into a drop-ship. It was a war drop-ship which sacrificed all weaponry for extremely thick armor. I was next to a light weight hover AC. It had the PETAL legs and a light EO core. Its weapons were a MG-1000 and a spread howitzer. It also had some anti missile extentions and a small rocket launcher on his back next to a radar. He had the ammo to make it threw the war, but not the armor. He had better be careful. "I'm AC MadKlown." he said. "Im AC RoadKill...good luck." We were dropped off onto the surface of Mars next to 8 other ACs. The enemy forces were much larger and consisted of 16 ACs and at least 30 different kinds of MTs. We were the third strike.  
  
Shots were being exchanged between both sides. The area in which we were fighting on was pretty flat. I lowered my grenade launcher and shot it into a crack to make my self a trench. I locked on waited while my missiles locked on. As soon as I was on max lock I turned on my shield and boosted up into the air and launched my volley of missiles. Two MTs fell to the ground and exploded. I brought down my Grenade Launcher and started on a light weight bladder AC. "Real smart...using a bladder on a battlefield." He came up for a stab with his parry blade. I simply boosted back and fired a grenade into his ACs head, tearing it off and leaving the AC blind. I decided to switch to my Slug Gun to save ammo. The shot hit him in several spots causing the AC to overheat and set fire. He boosted madly away and hit a nearby AC blowing up his AC and taking of the legs of the AC he crashed into. I took this advantage and filled him full of slugs. My energy was low so I retreated back to my trench.  
  
Our forces were down to 7 ACs. The enemies had 10 ACs and 14 MTs. We were doing quite well. Another one of our ACs fell. It seems there was an enemy AC in the back of the battle field. He was using TITAN missiles to mow down our ACs. I saw it. A Heavily Armored tank with two TITANS, a shield, and a MARS blade for anti-blading and close range ACs. I fired a grenade into the core. It dented it but didn't go all the way threw. I fired another in the same spot cracking the core. As I fired the next shot he OverBoosted forward, my grenade hitting his head but not quite tearing it off. I tried to boost backwards but it was too late, he had already tore of my tanks left tread. It would now be near impossible to move on the ground. He grabbed my torn tread and began to swing me around, I followed it up with a spread of slugs, causing him to drop me without throwing me and fall over. I flew on top of him, tore of his head, and punched into the core killing the pilot.  
  
Our forces were now down to 4 ACs. The enemies had 6 ACs and 2 MTs. I went after the MTs, picking one up in my hand and then throwing it at the other MT killing them both. I was out of grenades and my missile launcher had been destroyed. I had 30 slugs left so I fired at ACs who were already engaged in battle to make it easier for the Mars forces. I had made it to the made it to the ammo truck and began to have my weapons refilled. My shift was over in 10 minutes and it was the last shift available. That means we had only had 10 minutes to destroy the remaining ACs. My right tread had heavy damage from the stress of only using one tread. I was traveling at only 48 km/h. I made it back to the front-lines. There were only three ACs by now. A sniper AC on the Earth army, MadKlown, and me. MadKlown turned on his EOs. Just as the EOs began to fire a bullet hit MadKlown's core precisely and killed the him.   
  
It was just me and the sniper AC. He began by shooting my tread causing it to take too much pressure and tearing it. I was now a sitting duck taking bullets from a distance. All of the sudden everything on my HUD was flashing. I was low on AP, had no way to walk, was overheating, and had one grenade left. I could not lock on from this distance. I took careful aim and fired at the AC, hoping to get a critical hit. He moved out of the way but his sniper was destroyed leaving him with nothing but a blade. The drop-ship was closing in towards my position and my shift was over in 20 seconds. I boosted backwards trying to make it to the drop-ship but the AC was much faster than mine. Just as it was about to connect a its blade into my core and finish me off I raised my shield and blocked the blade. Though it stunned him momentarily he was able to pierce threw my shield. The MOONLIGHT was something to be worried about. By my luck a strange thing happened. As his ACs arms pierced my shield it connected with my shield generator. The blade could not be retracted. On instinct I grabbed his arm and pushed it slowly towards his cockpit. He tried to resist but my AC's arms were much more powerful than his. He brought down his right arm and tried to force the blade towards me. With all of my remaining strength I pushed at his arm so that it went threw the cockpit of his AC. I had killed him with his own weapon. I flew into the drop-ship awaiting repairs for my next shift tomorrow afternoon... 


	11. Chapter 10:Unwanted attention

My AC repairs were not quite finished. Ammo was replenished and everything but the legs were repaired. The problem was that I would be sent into battle in less than 10 minutes. The armor on the legs was repaired, but the treads were still ripped. I would be going into battle with a handi-cap. Todays battle was different though. Two Massive MTs were spotted on radar and were coming in fast. This could cause some damage to our army if they interrupted a shift. I was picked along with two others. The first was AC Hellfire. She was the biggest pyromaniac in the on Mars or Earth. She had light reverse joint legs, with a heavy IKS OB core, a flame thrower, and napalm rockets for support. The next AC was a pilot who did not join the arena or participate in missions. Her name was AC Daisy. She simply hired herself out as a consort. She had hover legs that looked somewhat like a motorcycle, an EO core with a built in energy chain gun, and dual orbit cannons. She really just turned on her EOs and dropped orbits while staying as far away from the enemy supporting the AC she was hired out to. It was our duty to destroy both Massive MTs before the next shift started, giving us less than 30 minutes to destroy both of them.  
  
I slowly boosted upwards into the transport since my legs weren't working. We would be paid double our regular pay for this mission. 60,000 credits in advance and 120,000 upon completion. Also, as an added bonus, if an AC was to be destroyed, is pay for the mission would be split and given to the surviving ACs or AC. I saw two large blips on my radar. "It's time to drop, lets deploy th......" He never finished his sentence as we took a direct hit from both MTs and were sent in a nose-dive to the surface. We all made it out of the transport and floated to the ground. It seems the pilot hadn't died for he was able to steer the falling transport directly into an MT causing some good damage to it and killing the pilot, for good.  
  
I stayed out of range of the MTs and started to fire grenades. The damaged MT tried to deploy its smaller section but it was damaged from the crash. I opened up fire on it while Daisy dropped orbits and turned on her EO. Hellfire was on top of the other MT, holding on with one hand and unloading flame-thrower with the other. Her fire would not be enough to kill the MT but it had made the armor very weak. I hit my OverBoosters and flew at the MT head on and shot it with my slug gun. "A little help over here" said Daisy. The smaller section had managed to free itself and was unloading on Daisy's thin armor. She dropped another orbit and turned on her EOs right before getting hit head on my to large grenades from the smaller MT section. Her AC was destroyed but the EOs continued to fire along with the orbits and managed to destroy the Massive MT. The orbits blew up and the EOs stopped their fire.  
  
Just then the MT I was fighting deployed it's smaller section. Hellfire was out of flamethrower and low on rockets. I tossed her my hand missiles and she started to fire on the weakened smaller MT. It wasn't long before it was destroyed. It was now a 2on2 battle, but the odds still weren't even and were not in favor of us. I continued to unload my slug gun on the MT when it fired the largest volley of missiles I've ever seen. I managed to turn on my shield and block some of the missiles, but many still hit me. I was overheating and down to 5,782 AP. Hellfire was again dry of ammo and gave my missile launcher back. I glanced over at her signal and saw that she was down to 2,978 AP. I told her to try to OB over to Daisy's destroyed AC and try to get her dual orbits, (she could even sell them after the battle for some extra credits) I provided her with cover by shooting grenades at both MTs.  
  
She acquired the dual orbits but she was well overweight. She slowly made her way back over to me. "RoadKill there are only two shots left." said Hellfire. "Than shoot them and make it quick!" She shot the first and waited for the orbits to reload. One orbit shot the Massive MT, while the other shot the smaller one. I was out of grenades, missiles, and down to 3 ECM pods, 20 slugs, and 40% shield generator capacity. Just than Hellfire was hit hard by a volley of missiles and her napalm rockets were destroyed, setting her aflame. Knowing this would be her last battle she too sacrificed herself and OverBoosted right into the Massive MT finishing it off. By now it was just a weakened smaller MT and me. I dropped an ECM pod and shot my slug gun towards it, hitting it with no more than 5 shells. I decided to joust and OverBoosted until I was right in front of the MT and shot it, sending it down to the the surface in a ball of flames.   
  
"All MTs destroyed. Returning to base." It was about 2 hours later. I had been paid and my AC was being worked on. I decided to take a rest. It was getting late and I was very tired....I awoke to the sound of an explosion late into the night. The base was under attack by a large force of ACs. I made my way to RoadKill and headed outside of the base. My AC repairs had been finished and in perfect timing. I saw several enemy ACs. They were all the same thing. Green and Blue light-weight ACs with Hueso legs, a RF-220, and howitzer. I very easy to pilot, yet quite effective AC. This showed that this force was put together in a hurry. Thats when I noticed the emblem. All of them had an AC on it circled with a line through it, a common multi-purpose symbol used for anti anything. As I examined it closer the AC on it was none other than...none other than mine. What am I suppose to do. I must have made quite a name for myself coming from earth to Mars, being in arena battles, defeating 8-ball, and than fighting for the Martian army. Those Massive MTs had been there to observe me!  
  
Security systems were turned online. I could see many red lines. I began to maneuver my AC threw them. This was not an easy task. I made it through the alarms and saw an old drop-ship. I boosted in it and waited. There was another AC in there with me, but I could not make it out in the darkness. It wasn't til an hour or so later that the AC began to speak to me, or it's pilot to be precise. "What's your name?" "AC RoadKill, and that's all I'm telling you as of yet." "I see. So what is your duty on Mars, if I may ask?" "I came here on a mission. And I've been here for 3 years now." "Good money I presume?" "Yes, that's it. But now it seems that the Earth army is out to get me." "It seems that way." 4 more hours passed and we finally made to our destination. I recognized this place. It was Earth. I looked over at the transport and saw that it was an old Earth Government drop-ship. That is when I saw the AC I was talking to. It was one of those ACs from the attack on our base. I had been lured into a trap... 


End file.
